ABERDEEN'S planned move from Pittodrie into a new stadium on the outskirts of the city have been put back by 12 months to the summer of 2014.

Plans for a 21,000-seat stadium at Loirston Loch were approved by the city council and Scottish Government early last year, with the Pittodrie site sold for future housing development.

However, issues with land at the new site mean the Dons will continue using their current home for at least two more years.

In a statement, Aberdeen chief executive Duncan Fraser said: "From the outset, when we announced the original timetable, we did state it was an extremely robust and ambitious timescale and that has proved to be exactly the case.

"The issue of land assembly in the locality of the site was always going to be one of the major challenges and, while we remain confident of a positive outcome, the process has taken longer than we had originally hoped.

"While moving during the course of a season was certainly an option, that course of action was ruled out as the most appropriate time for such a move would be in the close season.

"In addition, there is no doubt everybody connected with AFC was extremely disappointed with the season just finished, and the stadium being put back by 12 months will allow the number one focus next season to be in ensuring on the field success.

"While the delay is disappointing, such is the scale of the project, it is imperative to ensure we are not giving ourselves unrealistic deadlines to work towards and we can now carry on with planning for a further two full seasons at Pittodrie."